Cyber101 - Getting into Cyber as a Student

Who are we?

Graduated from UMD in '19 with a BS in CS and '21 with a ME in Cyber Security. Involved in CSEC and helped create challenges for UMDCTF-2019/20/21.

Held various cyber security roles:

Software Security Engineer at RunSafe Security
Software Security Engineer for the Department of Defense

Mike - WittsEnd2

Software Engineer - C, Python, & Web

Reverse Engineer/Binary Exploitation

Hobbies: CTFs/Dev Projects, Entrepreneurship, Baseball, Music, Stocks

How to reach me

#include <stdlib.h>
typedef struct Contact {
    char discord[15];
    char twitter[15];
    char github[10];
} Contact;

int main() {
    Contact *contactInfo = malloc(sizeof(struct Contact));
    contactInfo->discord = "WittsEnd2#9274";
    contactInfo->twitter = "@RagnarSecurity"
    contactInfo->github = "WittsEnd2";
    contactInfo->blog = "https://ragnarsecurity.medium.com/"
    return 0;
}

These are my own views/thoughts and do not reflect the views/thoughts of my employer.

What is Cyber Security?

What it is

Cyber security refers to the body of technologies, processes, and practices designed to protect networks, devices, programs, and data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. Cyber security may also be referred to as information technology security.

Policies (clearance, compartmentalization)
Patch Tuesday
Vulnerability scanning
Threat/network scanning

Research
- Vulnerabilities
- Exploits
Protocols, cryptography, and obfuscation

What it is not

https://hackertyper.net

Genres (topics) in Cyber

*What you will see frequently in CSEC*

Reverse Engineering

Understanding how something works, whether its software, hardware, or anything else.

Ghidra

IDA Pro

Binary Ninja

Radare2

ptrace/strace

Sysinternals Suite

AnyRun

Cuckoo Sandbox

@malwareunicorn

Tools (Software):

Exploit

Taking advantage of an unintended ~~bugs~~ features

Binary -

Buffer Overflow

String Format

Return Oriented Programming (ROP)

Timing Attacks

Side channel

Web -

SQL Injections

XSS/CSRF

Can require some RE to do successfully.

Examples

Whats the exploit here?

Digital Forensics

Data Analysis - Aggregated Data investigations

Disk - Storage Drive forensics

Memory - RAM/Snapshot forensics

Network - IP traffic forensics

Mobile/Embedded - Niche technology based forensics

Popular Areas

Forensics is uncovering evidence and artifacts like a detective solving a crime scene.

Criminal Investigations

Malware / Intrusion Detection

Volatility

Autopsy

Hardware

Embedded Systems - Internet of Things

Software Defined Radio - RF Hacking

Hardware Hacks - Side channel

Tools/Resources:

GNU Radio
Hak5
HackRF
Architecture Manuals
Baremetal &
etc

Hardware covers a variety of topics, and as Software folk we generally don't get to play with this stuff.

Cryptography

Secure communications in an adversarial setting. In CTFs, usually breaking uses of crypto or broken crypto. (there's a difference!)

Broadly speaking, unless you become an expert in Cryptography, uses of crypto are limited to consulting and designing with secure crypto primitives. (secure primitives does not imply secure communications!)

data = 'CAPTURETHEFLAG'
key = 'A'
encrypted = ''.join([chr(ord(x) ^ ord(key)) for x in data])
print(encrypted)
# '\x02\x00\x11\x15\x14\x13\x04\x15\t\x04\x07\r\x00\x06'

Networks/Web/Cloud

Web applications
Industrial Control Systems
Open Source Intelligence
Cloud Application Security

Both offensive and defensive, multiple subjects (like exploitation and cryptography) can apply to this field as well.

Tools:

Burp Suite
WireShark
OWASP Zap
Snort

Policies & Procedures

The Business Side of Cyber Security. This defines the steps to defend an organization from a cyber attack.

Confidentiality, integrity, availability
Security Models
- Biba Model
- Chinese Wall Model
Threat Models - Quantitative vs Qualitative
Access Controls
- Password Policies
- Identification Policies
Risk Scoring

Roles/Positions in Cyber

Information Security Analyst

Utilizes tools (both closed and open source) to defend an organization's information technology system from unauthorized access.

Creating firewall rules
Defending endpoints from threats
Monitoring network traffic & scan for vulnerabilities
Developing scripts/applications to automate intrusion detection/prevention
Developing Security Playbooks

Lots of certifications/classes (CISSP, CISA, Security+, etc).

Penetration Tester

Evaluating an organization's security using tools and methodologies hackers (ethical hacking).

Using software (and sometimes hardware) to determine exploitability of an organization
Figuring out how deep you can go (and if you can achieve persistent access).
Writing reports to organizations about your findings.

You are not developing the tools as much as using them.

Certifications:

Certified Ethical Hacker (easy)
OSCP/OSCE (Medium/Hard)
LPT from EC Council (Medium)

Security Researcher

Finding new vulnerabilities/zero-days in existing system.

Technology Companies
- Google Project Zero
Academia
Government - LTS
Startup Companies

This is one of the most difficult jobs to do as it requires in-depth technical knowledge.

Security Software Engineer

Developing new technologies to protect information security systems.

Diverse skill-set:

Low-level: C/C++ and Rust
Web: JavaScript Python
Databases: SQL/NoSQL
Network Based: Scripting

Technology companies, government, and startups generally are looking to hire for this kind of talent

Non-Technical Role (Management/Auditors)

Develop, implement, and audit policies and best practices to protect an organization's technology. Extremely broad set of responsibilities.

Authentication policies (e.g. single sign-on/multifactor authentication)
Implementing Security Models
- Zero-Trust Architecture
- Access Control Systems
Working with technological workforce to balance productivity with security
Budget - convincing executives for more money

Specialized Roles

Digital Forensics Analyst
Cryptography Researcher
Bug Bounty
Hardware Security Engineer/Researcher

How do you get started?

How you feel right now

Keep participating in CSEC!

Evaluate Goals

Have specific goals in mind
- Can be narrow or broad
What do you want to improve on?
Why do you want that as your goal?
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve?

Create A Schedule

Devote several hours per week to practicing
Make sure there are no distractions
Why Create A Schedule?
- School & Personal Life takes a lot of time
- You will need to organize your schedule when working

Learn

Utilize websites and resources designed for structured learning
Listen to security podcasts and follow security researchers
Watch YouTube Videos and blog posts
Reddit & Twitter
- Will discuss specific later

Compete in CTFS

CTF Competitions put your skills to the test
- Time limit
- Never before seen challenges
Different designs for CTFs
- Many different categories
- Can be specialized
  - Attack/Defense
  - HackASat
Learning opportunity
UMDCSEC Comp Team Website

Compete in CTFS

CTFS aren't always easy
- You will spend lots of time feeling like you're struggling to solve a challenge
READ WRITEUPS!
- You will learn why you weren't able to solve the challenge
  - Especially the ones where you spend hours getting no where

Apply Security to Projects

Break software that you build
Use your skills with CSEC
- Website/Infrastructure
- Machine Learning/Data
Use hackathons as a way to build cybersecurity projects
- Build a set of vulnerable code
- Build tools to help you solve CTF challenges (or penetration testing)

Talk to Professors

Learn about the research they do and some suggestions regarding research
Participate in research activities
- Breakerspace
This can lead to graduate school

Open Source Projects

Open Source Community is always looking for contributors!
Join Discord channels and see how you can get involved.
- Examples: Pwntools, Radare2

Generating Ideas for Projects

How can someone break this software?
What am I having difficulty with and how can I make it easier?
What do people seem to be having difficulty figuring out?
How can I protect this better?
Why did someone implement this and how can I make it better?

Find a Group of Freinds

UMDCSEC is a great group of friends interested in Cyber
Ask questions and share what you are doing
Ask other friends not in the club if they want to join you with cyber-related projects/events

Resources

General Resources

(The good stuff)

Reddit:
  - r/cybersecurity
  - r/ReverseEngineering
  - r/ghidra
  - r/hacking
  - r/HowToHack
  - r/humblebundles
  - r/memoryforensics
  - r/RTLSDR
  - r/securityCTF
  - r/netsec
  - r/netsecstudents
  - r/LiveOverflow
  - r/linux
  - r/linuxmemes
  - r/linuxmasterrace
  - r/Hacking_Tutorials
  - r/unixporn #getricing

Youtube:
  - LiveOverflow
  - Hak5
  - pwn.college
  - RTL Engineering
  - Guided Hacking
  - Ben Eater
  - Computerphile
  - DEFCONConference
  - Aerospace Village
  - Car Hacking Village
  - Cheat The Game
  - LockPickingLawer
  - Suckerpinch
  - John Hammond
  - Nahmsec
  - Zero Day Initiative
  - stacksmashing

Websites:
  - vx-underground.org
  - index-of.es
  - repnz.github.io
  - corelan.be
  - github.com/RPISEC/MBE
  - pwn.college
  - exploit.education
  - hockthebox.eu
  - hackthissite.org
  - overthewire.org
  - tryhackme.com
  - ringzer0ctf.com
  - ctftime.org
  - picoctf.com
  - lobste.rs
  - 2thi.cc/doc
  - nostarch.com
  - flaws.cloud

Programming

- Python : Useful for everything

- C/C++ & ASM : Exploit & RE

- Golang & Rust

- Web - JavaScript, PHP, etc.

- Machine Learning: For working with data

Little reason to write in assembly, Lots of reasons to read assembly

Hackerrank - Great for learning languages fast and practicing your understanding of algorithms. Ex. functional programming, Regex, ML, Bash, C/C++, etc.)
Side Projects - Websites, Hardware, SDR, IOT, etc.
- If you know how to build it, you can break it!

CTFs

CTFs are a great way to learn and apply skills!

ctftime.org - Following and keeping up with CTFs
UMDCTF past challenges - Jeopardy
picoCTF - Beginner CTF / Jeopardy
HackTheBox - Pen. Testing / Jeopardy
RingZer0 - Jeopardy
Malware-Traffic-Analysis - Forensics based (Wireshark :D)
Exploit.Education - VMs for learning exploits and privilege escalation
TryHackMe - Pen. Testing / Jeopardy

Where to start!

Classes

Cybrary - Red Team and Blue Team Cyber

RPISEC-MBE - Intro to Exploit Dev.

ACES-Minor @UMD

pwn.college - Intro to cyber (and ctfs)

Graduate Degree: M. ENG and Computer Science

CMSC389R - Intro to Ethical Hacking

CMSC389J - Intro to Reverse Engineering

Certifications:

Certified Ethical Hacking

Offensive Security - OSCP

Open Source

Git____ is your friend!

CTF Writeups/Source Code

Metasploit

Wireshark

Nikto

NMap

Volatility

angr

Capstone - (not a school project)

BAP - Binary Analysis Platform

Many many more!

Books

Ghidra Book - Reverse Engineering
Practical Reverse Engineering
Practical Malware Analysis
Programming Linux Anti-Reversing Techniques
Black Hat Python - Development (Pen. Testing)
The Hacker Playbook 2 & 3 (Pen. Testing)
PoC || GTFO
Hacking the Art of Exploitation
Shellcoders Handbook
Grey Hat Hacking
Open Source Intelligence Techniques

Academia

- Research (Network with professors/faculty)

- ACES

- Cyber Security Specialization

- M. Eng. in Cyber Security

- Breakerspace

- Lots of open source projects are being run by universities as research projects. You can easily get involved by contributing to these projects. Features/Bug Fixes/Documentation are all encouraged!

Internships

NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK

Go to CSEC meetings & meet recruiters (they are here for you)

Pro tips -

Open conversation with... "I'm taking <some class title> and I really enjoyed this project on <topic like bufferoverflows>. Do you guys do stuff like that on the job?"

Ask... "What kind of training/learning opportunities do you have? I love to learn!"

Ask... "Whats the office culture like?" (You'll love your job if you love your coworkers)

Cyber101 - Getting into Cyber as a Student

Who are we?

Mike - WittsEnd2

How to reach me

These are my own views/thoughts and do not reflect the views/thoughts of my employer.

What is Cyber Security?

What it is

What it is not

Genres (topics) in Cyber

Reverse Engineering

Tools (Software):

Exploit

Examples

Whats the exploit here?

Digital Forensics

Popular Areas

Volatility

Autopsy

Hardware

Cryptography

Networks/Web/Cloud

Policies & Procedures

Policies & Procedures

Other Topics You May Find

Roles/Positions in Cyber

Information Security Analyst

Penetration Tester

Security Researcher

Security Software Engineer

Non-Technical Role (Management/Auditors)

Specialized Roles

How do you get started?

How you feel right now

Keep participating in CSEC!

Evaluate Goals

Create A Schedule

Learn

Compete in CTFS

Compete in CTFS

Apply Security to Projects

Talk to Professors

Open Source Projects

Generating Ideas for Projects

Find a Group of Freinds

Resources

General Resources

(The good stuff)

Programming

CTFs

Where to start!

Classes

Open Source

Books

Academia

Internships

Your friends are just as (if not more important) than these resources! DO SIDE PROJECTS! BE INVOLVED!

Questions/Comments/Random

Thank you!